Vatican endorsement of UN development goals threatens unborn children

April 30, 2014 (VoiceoftheFamily.info) -- A statement signed by the heads of both the Pontifical Academy of Science and the Pontifical Academy of Social Sciences has endorsed the United Nation’s proposed creation of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) despite current drafts reflecting a strong pro-abortion agenda.

In his contribution to the workshop UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, connected the upcoming papal encyclical on the environment with the proposed SDGs. He said:

This year, with the upcoming encyclical, the Sustainable Development Goals Summit in September, and a global climate agreement, we have an unprecedented opportunity to articulate –and create – a more sustainable future and a life of dignity for all.

Tragically, far from ensuring “a life of dignity for all”, the draft SDGs constitute a concerted attack on the right to life of unborn children and the rights of parents as the primary educators and protectors of the their children.

There are currently three draft sets of sustainable development goals and it is anticipated that final agreement of the goals will be reached at the end of July this year.

In a statement delivered yesterday on behalf of Voice of the Family Patrick Buckley of the Society for the Protection of Unborn outlined some of the grave moral problems associated with the SDGs as currently proposed by the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network which took part in the Vatican meeting. Buckley said:

Goal 4 is to “achieve gender equality, social inclusion, and human rights for all”. The call for an end to preventable deaths of infants and children under the age of 5 excludes unborn children, despite the fact that the Convention on the Rights of the Child in its preamble recognises that “The child by reason of his physical and mental immaturity, needs special safeguards and care, including appropriate legal protection, before as well as after birth.”

Goal 4d, which states “Ensure universal sexual and reproductive health and rights” is completely unacceptable. Such language is routinely used by the international pro-abortion and population control lobby to refer to the legalization of abortion on demand and access for children, without parental knowledge or consent, to abortion and birth control drugs and devices in countries throughout the world.

Goal 5, “Achieve Health and Wellbeing at all ages”, also includes a reference to sexual and reproductive health and family planning.

Yesterday (29th April 2015) saw the publication of a paper entitled “A Statement of the Problem and the Demand for Transformative Solutions”, which strongly endorses the creation of SDGs. The authors of this document include Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Chancellor of the the PAS, Professor Margaret Archer, President of the PASS, and leading abortion and population control advocate Professor Jeremy Sachs. Sachs is one of the architects of the Millennium Development Goals and a member of the Executive Board of the Sustainable Development Solutions Network, which drafted the proposed Sustainable Development Goals referred to above.

The document states:

The UN Member States have announced their determination to place Sustainable Development at the center of global cooperation, building a holistic cooperative strategy on the pillars of economic progress, social inclusion and environmental sustainability. This would involve the adoption of new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to help guide global cooperation during the course of future generations. All people of good will should encourage their governments to undertake these commitments to action.

It concluded:

In view of the persistence of poverty, the widening of economic and social inequalities, and the continued destruction of the environment, we support and endorse the call for the adoption by 2015 of new universal goals, to be called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to guide planetary scale actions after 2015.

Only through the empowerment and education of women and children throughout the world will we be able to attain a world that is both just and sustainable. We have a clear moral obligation to do this, and will benefit greatly by succeeding in this goal.

This is not the first time that the PAS has co-operated with the United Nations to promote Sustainable Development Goals.

The final document of the workshop strongly endorsed the development of Sustainable Development Goals. Signatories included Peter Cardinal Turkson, the main drafter of the upcoming papal encyclical, Bishop Marcelo Sánchez Sorondo, Professor Margaret Archer, President of the PASS, and Professor Jeremy Sachs.

The statement said:

In view of the persistence of poverty, the widening of economic and social inequalities, and the continued destruction of the environment, the world’s governments called for the adoption by 2015 of new universal goals, to be called Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), to guide planetary-scale actions after 2015. To achieve these goals will require global cooperation, technological innovations that are within reach, and supportive economic and social policies at the national and regional levels, such as the taxation and regulation of environmental abuses, limits to the enormous power of transnational corporations and a fair redistribution of wealth. It has become abundantly clear that Humanity’s relationship with Nature needs to be undertaken by cooperative, collective action at all levels – local, regional, and global.

The technological and operational bases for a true sustainable development are available or within reach. Extreme poverty can be ended through targeted investments in sustainable energy access, education, health, housing, social infrastructure and livelihoods for the poor.

In neither statement do the Pontifical Academies drawn any attention to the plight of the unborn children who are deliberately targeted by the proposed SDGs. While the draft SDGs may also contain laudable goals it is completely unacceptable to sacrifice the rights of unborn children in pursuit of those goals.

If the PAS and the PASS endorse the SDGs as they currently stand they will be endorsing abortion and the violation of parental rights. Voice of the Family calls on both Pontifical Academies to strongly reject the UN’s population control agenda, which is being pursued under the cover of protecting the environment.